Consumption of licenses by extensions for Rational Software Architect

Technote (FAQ)

Question

Does an extension for IBM Rational Software Architect (RSA) check out a floating license from a license key server, even if you do not make explicit use of it?

Cause

You may want to install several extensions of RSA for a number of users greater that the number of floating licenses that you have, if many of your users do not make a regular use of the extensions.

Answer

You cannot know for sure that the license of a given extension for RSA will not be checked out if the aforementioned extension is not explicitly used. Indeed, there are many cases where the extension's license will be checked out when you work with other features of RSA, because RSA is making an invisible use of this functionality in the feature you are using.

Furthermore, RSA is not supported when you run it with extensions for which no valid licenses are available.

Therefore, you should keep in mind that, every time you launch an instance of RSA which is configured to use a floating license server, the license of every installed extension will also be checked out, regardless of how you are using the extension. You should avoid installing extensions for your users who do not use them often and plan the number of floating licenses that you need accordingly.